


What Are You Afraid Of?

by AnnabellaOcean



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 08:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3113465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnabellaOcean/pseuds/AnnabellaOcean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Yeah," Korra responds, mustering up a smile, "yeah, don't worry. I'm fine."</p><p>But later, when they lay down to sleep and Asami presses soft lips against hers, Korra knows she isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Are You Afraid Of?

**Author's Note:**

> I started this after watching the Korra finale, and I thought I should finally finish it. Enjoy these premium Korrasami feels!

Korra is twenty-one years old.

At seventeen, at fifteen, at twelve, she used to rage and rail – against her parents, against Katara, against Tenzin. They treated her like a child. None of them wanted to see her for what she was: the Avatar – strong, capable and adult.

But that was then. Now, she is twenty-one years old, and she knows she is barely even beginning.

Clear water laps at the edges of the pond. Korra sits on a grass-clad hill overlooking it and gazes down, lost in deep thought. She thinks she is like the water – she's lived as a wave, pushing against the world and falling back in turn. She's known the extremes of arrogance and despair, like the enemies she's defeated.

She believes that is the way of the world: balance and exchange. Actions beget reactions, and perhaps it's not so strange that those who would threaten the balance of the world are so similar to the Avatar who rises to stop them.

It still frightens her.

There are many things that frighten her, these days.

Korra finds herself thinking about Zaheer, as she so often does – Zaheer, bearing down on her, his face set in determination, all while the poison ruins her inside. And later, Zaheer in his new prison, guiding her into the spirit world. His face contained no more vitriol for her when he was trying to kill her than when he was helping her – that is the horror of it.

He didn't try to kill her for ambition or revenge. Zaheer simply believed, with a purity of belief Korra doesn't think she'll ever experience, that it was the right thing to do.

She's so lost in her reverie that she doesn't even hear someone approaching her from behind until a gentle hand touches her shoulder. With a start, she turns her head to look up into green eyes.

"Come on," Asami says with a smile. "Dinner is ready."

 

* * *

 

They have been in the spirit world for a little over a week. Neither of them has mentioned returning home yet.

 

* * *

 

Over dinner, Asami asks her, "Are you alright? You seem a little preoccupied."

"Yeah," Korra responds, mustering up a smile, "yeah, don't worry. I'm fine."

But later, when they lay down to sleep and Asami presses soft lips against hers, Korra knows she isn't. And when Asami's hand slides underneath Korra's shirt and presses against her stomach, Korra takes her by the wrist, and Asami sits back, concern written on her face.

"Korra..."

"Look, I just—" Korra tries, then trails off. She can't quite force herself to meet Asami's eyes, so she stares down at the ground, pulls clumps of grass out of the ground like a sullen child. She wants to say something, but nothing comes. The silence stretches out.

Finally, voice gentle, Asami asks: "Korra, what are you afraid of?"

"What?" Korra says, startled. But Asami doesn't answer, just looks at her with an expression of deep sympathy on her face.

Korra doesn't even realize tears have started spilling down her cheeks until Asami leans forward and wraps her arms tightly around her. After that, though, Korra doesn't think there's any power in the world that could have stopped her from breaking into sobs.

It's not pretty. Before long, Asami's shoulder is soaked with tears and snot, and Korra sobs and gasps and shakes with the weeping, but Asami is still right there, rocking her and making gentle little nonsense sounds. And then, she's kissing the top of Korra's head, then her ear and her wet cheek, hushing her all along.

Her hand finds its way underneath Korra's nightshirt again, and this time she whispers in Korra's ear: "Just trust me." And Korra, still hiccuping with the last of the sobs, nods, because she does. She does trust Asami, more than anyone, but she's afraid.

Because Asami is beautiful. Asami is all poise and grace, her skin soft and smooth, and she smells so good, and her smile takes Korra's breath away. Whereas Korra herself... Korra herself is the Avatar, a warrior. And when Asami takes Korra's nightshirt off, she finds battle-toughened muscles underneath, rough edges and old scars.

But Asami just leans down, a gentle smile on her lips, and she plants kisses along Korra's abdomen and chest and shoulders, as reverently as Korra has imagined herself doing, were the situation reversed. As if she thinks Korra is beautiful.

She finishes with a kiss on Korra's lips, like a long, slow punctuation mark. She sits back. "You don't need to be afraid with me."

And Korra says nothing, because how can she put into words the kind of gratefulness she feels? So she just reaches out and takes Asami by the hands, pulling her back in for another kiss, which she hopes will say everything she can't.

Whatever Asami says, Korra knows there's a part of her which will always be afraid – because she'd be mad if she didn't fear losing someone like that. But as they drift off to sleep, Asami's leg slung over Korra's and her head resting in the crook of Korra's neck, she thinks it's going to be worth it.


End file.
